Failed Cultures

The ongoing misery in Haiti just got an exclamation point added with a 7.0 earthquake. A shattered Port Au Prince is all over the news media. The devastation points up both the power of a quake of this sort and the crummy building techniques utilized. Once again Haiti is in the news for also being the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Politics can't help but be a part of the discussion - and along with politics, culture.

It is pretty plain that some behaviors are more conducive to stability and economic comfort. When behaviors become widespread enough they get called culture and if they are instituted by establishment the culture warriors will back them. Frequently blindly, as Brooks demonstrated. The Confederate Party of Republicanism touts its culture meme and whacks the rest of the nation over its immoral head with it, all the while ignoring that poverty, incest, and divorce rates are highest in its own backyard. This is the crap that Brooks is spewing under cover of the "I'm a nice reasonable guy" cloak of bullshit.

The Brooksian (CPoR) view seems to hold that culture forms in some kind of vacuum, that there are not good reasons behaviors are practiced. To them it is simply some sort of moral failing rather than failing coping mechanisms. Why certainly Mr Brooks and Rushbo and assorted asswipes - these people are in a state of horrid poverty because they ... well hell, have the wrong religion rather than no available jobs paying anything. Voodoo certainly encourages its followers to starve. If the majority of a population is poverty stricken it must be something they're doing wrong. Like what? It's a pretty good bet reducing births would help - but Catholicism hates birth control pills - remember? How about seeing that what wealth the country has whether natural resources or other got spread around a bit - managed capitalism (soshalizm per CPoR).

The cultural failure these idjits talk about is at the top, as per most paternalistic societies - just as they'd have the US go. Authoritarianism is good for the little folks - just 'cause they say so. Who the hell runs the money and power in the country? Must be the poor since it's their fault they're poor...

How about the first question is who is rich and how did they get that way?

Lieberman Is A Democratic Chair?

Here's a question for the Democratic Senate Caucus, exactly what is it you're keeping Ole Joe Ho around for? What Democratic bill is it you think he's going to vote for if is isn't warfare or Corporate Welfare? Or is that stuff on your agenda?

I'm real curious as to the agenda that keeps a plutocratic warmongering Republican wannabe as a member of the Caucus. If you want to convince Democrats that you're not idiots, how about an explanation? Hell, do it on TV but do it...

Rice Said WHAT??

"I'm very glad that there was, in fact, a consequence. I think that this kind of coarse language doesn't belong anywhere in reasonable dialogue between reasonable people," said Rice regarding Imus' firing.

Oh for god's sake. I just got done complaining about Al Sharpton and then I saw this. A lot of people have died because of or been slandered by this mongering BushCo sleaze and she's got the nerve to pick on Don Imus? I think my head just exploded.

Her mangling of historical fact and outright lies...I can't say anything reasonable or polite - I'm going to bed. BushCo has no shame.

Swiftboats, Belgium, and Fox

Apparently the last notable thing Belgium did was get run over by the Germans in WWII, otherwise it'd be silly to send them an ambassador like Sam Fox. As he kissed up to John Kerry in the Senate he professed to not know who the Swiftboat Liars for Bush were. He just gives money to anyone who asks. ( I don't have any, but I do have a measure of pride, I won't ask ) I have no idea how the Belgians will react to this one. I knew a Belgian girl 30 some years ago, she had what I'd call national pride, I'm pretty sure she'd be pissed.

The position must have been pressing since George II used a recess appointment to get Fox in, oddly the Democrats didn't think much of him, and they were only going to be gone a week. On of BushCo's more notable recess appointments was John Bolton to UN, you remember Mr Walrus Doom and Gloom. He's done well on TV, for the last week you can't turn the damn thing on without that 'stash showing up - good grief - "The Daily Show."??? You don't suppose it's George who is voting for that mope on the American Idol show, do you? I don't watch that show and I couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle but I've seen clips and that kid sucks. Maybe after he's 35 the Republicans will run him in honor of GWB.

I seem to have lost Fox. He did strike me as eminently forgettable, or is that richly forgettable.

McCain and Pence Go Shopping

The problem with McCain - Naval Air and Pence - USAF is that their experiences of war were remote. Yes, you know you're being shot at in a jet; and sometimes you get shot down and imprisoned, but that is a different deal from the personal experience of dirt sloggers. They live in and with the death and destruction, blasted buildings, rotting bodies, bleeding buddies are all right there. Not 20,000 ft down and nice clean safe barracks away, and the tools are basic and pretty personal, rifles and grenades and etc give a close up of what you're doing and is being done to you. No million dollar hot rods with buttons and pretty gauges, nope, real basic stuff.

The market trip was the kind of political asininity that kills campaigns, you cannot afford to look that stupid, I'm safe shopping here; this typical neighborhood. One that's been cleared, is covered by 100 troops, snipers, Blackhawks, and Apaches, not to mention body armour as dress code, dumber than a box of rocks.

Patriot Act, FBI, Idiots

When the cowering BushCo Republican Congress passed the Patriot Act some folks (me included) raised concerns about the that unmitigated piece of junk. Anyone paying the least attention could see that this thing invested the Executive Branch with police state powers, now it appears that the Executive Branch doesn't mind using police state tactics. When you give children matches they will light them and the same holds true of bureaucracies, if they have a conceivable power they will use it, and probably in a childish fashion. Our fine representatives gave the FBI the ability to force release of private information with "exigent circumstances" letters, the idea being that in an emergency they could get their hands on information and later follow up with subpoenas. Oddly enough,once the FBI had the information, they saw no need to do "follow-up" paper work. At some point they also no longer saw the need for the demands to be based in active investigations. Children - Matches.

Is this a fault with the FBI? There is a mindset within any such agency that there are dangerous guilty people out there who must be found, quickly. The more hoops to be jumped through the slower and "less effectively" things move. All very true, and also exactly why the government of the USA is so hamstrung when dealing with its citizenry. Did the authors of this "Patriot Act" bother to stop and think that the Framers of the Constitution and Bill of Rights had some experience with unbridled bureaucracy? There are worms with more backbone than that Congress.

The government of the USA exists to serve the citizens of that State, not any other purpose. It is subordinate to the will and interests of the citizenry. We are not here for their convenience, their use, their abuse; they are here because we tolerate them. Whatever use the FBI has to the citizenry of the State is at the pleasure of the citizenry and subservient to their Rights. If the Idiots in Congress tell them they can do something, they will do it, and in the natural fashion of bureaucracies, they will over-do it. These people were given cover of law to break the law (that is what the Constitution is) and break the spirit of the law. You cannot ignore the spirit of the founding document of a nation and get results that are congruent with the interests of that nation.

The entire reason Checks and Balances were written into the Constitution and that the Bill of Rights was appended was to make sure that the government did not become a power unto itself. That no branch could over-reach. Any government chafes at restriction, it has a conception of purpose that includes taking actions and any restriction on that ability is seen as an obstacle to be overcome. People are exactly what they are, no better or worse, and that is why we create documents to govern their behavior, they are not universally trustworthy, they are simply human beings. An entire group of people got together and fought, wrangled, debated, and struggled to find the exact language that would form a government of, for, and by the people and still function. That was their sole purpose. They accepted that freedom entails risks and considered the alternative as unacceptable.

The Patriot Act is the product of fearful idiots and may ruin the FBI.

Justice Is A Political Football

The DOJ just cannot get its stories straight, when 8 US Attorneys were fired it was a simple personnel change and had something to do with performance. Time passes. The Federal Prosecutors object to the performance issue, with glowing performance evaluations in hand. The little 'appoint without Senate approval' clause comes to light, and scepticism mounts. Oh, a Karl Rove flunky is appointed, a political hack. More doubts are spoken. Congress starts nosing around and it appears that there was some coercion of Prosecutors to not complain - since some didn't seem to like being called incompetent. The idiot AG who can't find a right to Habeas Corpus in the Constitution insists that this is simply a personnel matter that's gotten out of hand. Then it comes out that a couple Republican Congresspeople were nosing around an investigation and were displeased that it wasn't going to impact the '06 election. There's a certain amount of impropriety involved, enough that Pete Domeneci lawyers up - big time. Things are starting to look a little more complicated than a simple personnel matter, in fact things are starting to look political. More AG 'there's nothing to see here,' kind of stuff, just a personnel matter that wasn't handled too well. Harriet Miers fingers show up in the pie, Kyle Sampson resigns as Deputy AG - the personnel guy - and the AG is back, and he was mislead (sound familiar?) and had incomplete info and didn't know what was going on and ...

So, now it appears that Karl Rove was one of the instigators. What struck me about the actual email that shows he was messing about was Kyle Sampson's question as to whether Karl thought "there is the political will to do it," asked of David Leitch who had forwarded Colin Newman's note that Rove wanted to know what they were going to do about the US Attorneys. This was a month before when the White House has admitted they were thinking about it. And what they were thinking about was how "loyal" to the Administration these guys were and how dedicated they were to the Administration's agendas, primarily voter fraud - Democratic. You know, voter purges like they got in Florida under Katherine Harris, almost completely Democratic and to a great extent unwarranted. What they were getting was competent prosecutions of federal crimes, not what they apparently wanted.

You remember that Gonzales didn't know about all this? Odd considering he and Sampson had discussed the idea while he was still White House council. He'll be explaining this one somehow, pretty soon.

So here's the deal, the Dept of Justice which is supposed to look out for the interests of all Americans is more interested in Democratic votes than crimes, and evidently, considering that Carol Lam bit it after Duke Cunningham's prosecution, way more interested in something other than political corruption. She wasn't doing enough about immigration cases, that may be important, but it might have been farther up the "to do" scale if the Republicans hadn't afforded so much corruption prosecution time. I'd guess that out of all the Republican appointed Republican US Attorneys there might be some who aren't doing such a hot job and could easily have superior replacements found, maybe they're just very "loyal Bushies." (a direct quote from Sampson's email)

There's a lot the AG "doesn't know about," somehow a person would think he'd be a little better informed, he doesn't know anything about any FBI misuse of the Patriot Act, the Constitution's provisions regarding Habeas Corpus, the Geneva Convention (it's "quaint"), in fact what he seems to know about is being George II's bitch.

Bush Administration Ineptitude

Joe Biden got up on his hind legs and raised hell in the Senate today, in a fury he asked if anyone in the body realized the depths of this Administration's ineptitude when they asked for the authorization to use force. That is actually a fair question, the Idjit in Chief hadn't had a chance to make a real hash of much by then. The Wilson/Plame affair should have been a sign post, but DC may kill that kind of vision.

I think the evidence is in now. A person could move backward in time from now and have quite a litany. I think I'll leave it at that, use the Comments button and make or add to a list. I'm tired.

Cal Thomas Will Say Anything

Since disclaimers have become popular, I'll start out with one, I think Cal Thomas is a right wing Republican apologist idiot and a hypocrite. Chances are, I'm not going to write something nice about him and his screed.

"Evangelical Christian Voters Maturing Politically" is the headline and here's what's to be had from Cal. They "have come a long way in a short time," from their "nearly unanimous condemnation of Bill Clinton for his extramarital affairs a growing number of these 'pro-family' voters appear ready to accept several Republican presidential candidates who do not share their ideal of marriage and faith." Do not share?? Rudy had an affair while married to his second ex with the current Mrs, Newt had an affair with his current Mrs while married to his second ex and she was in the hospital with cancer. They're not too hot on Mitt who is a member of a cult and McCain who has said he thinks some of their leaders are "agents of intolerance." That they are even considering these guys is a "sign of their political maturation and of their more pragmatic view of what can be expected from politics and politicians." It gets better.

"...many of them are awakening to at least two other realities - (1) they are not electing a church deacon; and (2) government has limited power to rebuild a crumbling social construct." They come from states where divorce rates are the highest and they overwhelmingly oppose same sex marriage. "Conservative evangelicals have grown up" even though they can't stand once married Methodist Hillary. He actually wrote this stuff and had it published.

There is a Democratic candidate that I'd rather went home, oddly I agree with the god-nuts on her, but for entirely different reasons. I would prefer some seriously tough talk and hard action from the others - at least the ones in office, but generally speaking I'm not ready to revolt. The god-patrol on the other hand has to stand on its head in order to get along with this bunch. They want a theocracy where they get to tell everybody how to be godly and yet this is the bunch they'll support? You'd require back surgery if you flip-flopped as hard as two of these and a couple others have the marital ethics of an alley cat. Now I don't care if they have open marriages or same sex marriages but for this crew to swallow this stuff is ludicrous. I can't tell if ole Cal is propagandizing his audience or actually believes this.

Speaking of propagandizing, I can see all sorts of opportunities for abetting blood-letting during the Republican Primaries for a progressive PAC. I'd think a "Truth in Politics PAC" could stir the pot real well by publicizing some of the goings on of the candidates, each with his own ad. Targeting the ads to the proper programing ought to be easy enough. I believe I could even donate a couple nickels to such a PAC, as long as it was tastelessly done.

Republican Funk

It looks like the Republicans don't particularly like the choices they've got so far as Presidential candidates. Nearly 60% of them want more choices, I can't say I blame them, but they have a problem, they've got Republicans to chose from. What they do want is:

More tax cuts
More war
Less abortions
No gay marriages

Not too surprising considering that 76% approve of GeorgeII. Yes, folks, Iraq was the right thing to do, it's being done right, and more is better. The economy is great, by overwhelming number the Repubs support BushCo's management. In fact, these people have pushed the president's approval numbers from 29% to 34%. Now consider that 34% of those polled had a positive view of the Republican Party and these whack jobs start to look a little lonely. The question that goes begging is just exactly why they believe this guy is doing anything right. As BS oriented as Fox is, they show stuff getting blown up in Iraq and even mention our soldiers getting killed and maimed, although the Walter Reed story was blown out of proportion by others ( the usual suspects - liberal media ). If you look at the demographics of the Repubs you have to wonder what two brain cells are talking to each other. Most of these people got squat in tax breaks, their jobs are in jeopardy, their pay is falling, and their kids are getting misused and abused in Iraq and they approve. It's astonishing, the plutocrats are 0.1% of the population and workers are supporting their gains and ignoring their own losses? Queers and baby killers must be powerful mojo, 'cause it sure ain't anything else.

They want Ronnie Reagan back, and frankly if they were to dig him up and stick a pole up his butt they'd have as good as he ever was and a vast improvement over their current "hero." To understand the depths of this stupidity you have to understand that RR killed the Soviet Union, you know, the communism and socialism can never work sort of place; when it didn't work at all it's deux machina - RR as god. What I cannot, in the final estimation, work out; is why so many people over the past dozen years have bought into the Republican mythology. Man, the Democrats must've been real bad.

I'm more than willing to admit that the Democrats have spent some real quality time shooting themselves in the foot and being arrogant while doing it, but holy smokes, the Republicans have taken dead aim at their heads with cannons, stuck their middle finger in the air, and they still believe. This goes beyond ideology, beyond brand identification, all the way to tribalism. No, I don't get it.

Dr Rice - Quack PoliSci

Finally someone has had the nerve to call-out Condi. Now there are things that require either stupidity or lying if you have a PhD in PoliSci. You see, recent history is a part of the curriculum because you cannot understand politics if you do not understand the events of the time. (I typed this last very slowly in case she's reading it) Strangely enough it was Keith Olberman who called BS.

Just to back up in time, shortly after Bhagdad fell and insurgents started killing people and the bodies were piling up pretty fast, the good Doctor likened them to the Wolfenstein in post-war Germany. These dead enders are officially credited with 32 killings, maybe more, maybe less since gangland killings were also going on - black market gangs. At that time there were several hundred dead in Iraq and no sign of a slow down. I don't have a PhD and I knew about it, but she said it. I bring this up because these folk like to bring up Hitler and WWII and say stuff that putting its best face on it is wrong. There's been talk of appeasers, of Churchillian Bush, of just about any appeal to that war imaginable in the face of the Iraq debacle. And they're back at it again in the most ignorant fashion possible.

Olberman:
'If Congress were now to revise the Iraq authorization, she said, out loud, with an adult present, "…It would be like saying that after Adolf Hitler was overthrown, we needed to change then, the resolution that allowed the United States to do that, so that we could deal with creating a stable environment in Europe after he was overthrown." '
***
'Invoking the German dictator who subjugated Europe; who tried to exterminate the Jews; who sought to overtake the world — is not just in the poorest of taste but in its hyperbole, it insults not merely the victims of the Third Reich, but those in this country who fought it. And defeated it.
Saddam Hussein was not Adolf Hitler.
And George W. Bush is not Franklin D. Roosevelt — nor Dwight D. Eisenhower.
He isn't even George H.W. Bush, who fought in that war.'
***
' "The resolution that allowed the United States to" overthrow Hitler?
On the 11th of December, 1941, at 8 o'clock in the morning, two of Hitler's diplomats walked up to the State Department — your office, Secretary Rice — and ninety minutes later they were handing a declaration of war to the Chief of the Department's European Division. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor four days earlier and the Germans simply piled on.'
***
'If you want to compare what we did to Hitler and in Germany, to what we did to Saddam and in Iraq, I'm afraid you're going to have to buy the whole analogy.
We were an occupying force in Germany, Dr. Rice, and by your logic, we're now an occupying force in Iraq.'
***
'But then there's this part about changing "the resolution" about Iraq, that it would be as ridiculous in the Secretary's eyes, as saying that after Hitler was defeated, we needed to go back to Congress to "deal with creating a stable environment in Europe after he was overthrown."
Oh, good grief, Secretary Rice, that's exactly what we did do!
We went back to Congress to deal with creating a stable environment in Europe after Hitler was overthrown!
It was called the Marshall Plan.'
***
'Twelve billion, 400 thousand dollars to stabilize all of Europe economically — to keep the next enemies of freedom, the Russians, out, and democracy, in!
And how do you suppose that happened? The President of the United States went back to Congress, and asked it for a new authorization, and for the money.
And do you have any idea, Madame Secretary, who opposed him when he did that?
The Republicans!'

I've cut Keith's admirable prose to pieces for this little exercise, the logic is still there but the elegance is gone. If you'd like the whole thing go over to MSNBC and get it.

The level of intellectual dishonesty needed to say this crap is astonishing. If it were coming from one of the right wing nutblogs it would just be pathetic, but this is the Secretary of State of the USA and supposedly one with a doctorate in political science. It must have specialized in Orwellian politics. So far in this country, history is not in the hands of the government, knowledge will take them down, knowledge and nerve.

According to KOS, the history they do have in their hands is disappearing, Cheney's interviews from 2004 forward are going away - you know "last throws," that kind of stuff is g o n e... These people have been given so much leash with their framing, spinning, lying, defaming, ... that they have lost all sense of proportion, all recognition that they can be caught and kicked in the teeth for it. They only get away with what we tolerate, don't.

I Suppose You Can Say This Stuff

...but it really might help if it had anything to do with anything. VP Dick Cheney was in Australia and apparently the change in magnetic field disrupted something in the part that controls his mouth.

"a remarkable achievement" describes the War in Iraq. I'm pretty sure quite a few Iraqis disagree and some Americans might disagree, in fact Speaker Pelosi's opposition would "validate the al-Qaida strategy."

Just to make sure nobody thought his eyesight was failing (other than shooting Texas lawyer as a quail) he noted, "You get some waves, and then you get some other waves. And that goes with living in a democracy..." I guess that one finger salute can count as a wave.

Year In Review - Chuck for ...

It takes some nerve to do a year in review of some small time blog, more so to do it sober, well I'll just step right up.

February
Small time contractor (me)runs for Dem OR 02US Primary - Retails Waldenbush & BushCo stupidity, but he does like Howard Dean's 50 state strategy & Wyden's flatter tax
Gets rights infringements right

March
Continues to run, likes Russ Feingold, gets GWB's coat-tails right, wrong race

April
Talks mean about Walden in public - "pinhead", repeats to Bend Bulletin, gets god in govt right, Oregonian calls me "most conservative candidate of 4" Bend The Source endorses as most progressive - albeit hot rod. I've never liked the O all that much, I wonder why I like The Source? More fun poking at BushCo

May
Carol Voisin wins election, Chuck likes her, "Chuck for ..." becomes advocacy and commentary, more fun poking at BushCo, gets general election vote and strategy right, except not in 02CD :-(

June
Behind at work thanks to politicking, 1 post, political analysis, you be the judge

July
Relevant at the time, now...

August
Chuck didn't like Joe Lieberman - still doesn't
DPO starts work on Gun Owner's Caucus
Pre-election terror BS
Money...
BushCo is a jerk - newsflash!!!

September
Bush is a failure because he's ignorant
Words have actual meanings, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...
More pre-election terror
Senate commits treason, including 12 Democrats

October
Ron Saxton, farmer, liar, joke, Saxtonville
Chuck likes fast cars and big guns, aren't you surprised???
Dick Cheny likes torture

November
31 posts...Chuck's a strange guy, he thinks you're important and government should see that

December
Some political analysis and Chuck still likes guns and Santa. He also likes you readers who stop by and give his ramblings some validation. Sure, it's about me having my say, but having somebody to say it to counts alot. The visit numbers are up and down but readership is increasing and I thank you for giving a damn about what I've had to say.

As for the value of what I've said, I put the categories on the page so I can be referenced easily, I stand by what say and if I'm wrong I'll apologize (and have). I expect to be accountable so I leave my stuff where you can find it. I know it's not much of a review, but shoot, it's just a little blog. Maybe I'll get out my crystal ball and do some future gazing...

George W Bush is not an idiot ???

Rep Issen R-CA on Bill Mahr's "Real Time" said that "this President is not an idiot" ... paraphrase - 'he listens to the wrong people.' Ok, Rep Issen is running for Congress as a Republican so saying GWB is an idiot might not be politic.

Now I say the guy (ok, the President) is of moderate intelligence, but that he is seriously challenged in the intellect department. Look, he didn't quite fail at an Ivy League College and he didn't manage to fly a fighter jet into the dirt, so he's not retarded. Apparently he can manage the words in books I read in 9th Grade so the neurons are connected and every once in awhile full sentences don't challenge him, especially if they hearken to an old western. So we can quit calling him a moron.

Seriously challenged in the intellect is a different matter, this involves critical thinking and synergizing information into decisions. A critical thinker will look at information and ideas and take them apart into their relevant pieces and look at the pieces. Information and ideas are a great deal like jigsaw puzzles, they come to you as a pretty picture on the box but they're made up of many odd shapes and colors that have meaning. It is your job to make sense of those pieces, even though somebody has already given you the picture. I don't care if people have been paid to analyze something, you still need to pay enough attention to it to be sure you understand how the analysis was arrived at and that you've considered opposing analysis. This does mean that you need outside sources of information if you're inside an organization or "point of view."

Synergy is hugely important, nothing that is given as an argument for an idea contains the elements of other points of view and those view points may contain important information and ideas whether you are in agreement with their conclusions or not. No serious argument undertaken by an opposing view point can come from "thin air." It must be founded on something and that something could easily be of import to your decision. Consideration of those elements and their inclusion or modification for inclusion into a decision can be a make or break proposition for successful implementation of a decision process.

GWB is a failure as a President not because he's a moron, he's a failure because he's ignorant, and what's worse, proud of it. The man has surrounded himself with ideologues and pays no attention to anything else, while they pay no attention to anything except their inflated egos. Any particular piece of stupidity can have backers for it, there are plenty of people who will state quite seriously that the moon landings were faked, no evidence will convince them otherwise, they listen to each other and that's it. The President was surrounded by people who quite seriously believed that you could impose democracy at the point of a gun on people with no experience of it. Yes, we did that to Japan. We did it after we showed them in very simple terms that extermination was their alternative. Now this is important, the one time it has been accomplished was under the umbrella of two mushroom clouds, fire bombings and the near total destruction of infrastructure didn't do it, battlefield slaughter didn't do it, none of the usual accoutrements of warfare accomplished that end. The clear prospect of annihilation did.

Who wasn't paying attention?

You can run the list of Bush failures and find a commonality in every one, closed mindedness. No, this is not a sign of retardation, but idiotic...hmmm.

Fellow lefties, there's something here to pay attention to in regard to ourselves.